Monday 9 September 2019

A Trip to Skye - Hike #4 Blaven (Bla Bheinn)

This is the point where things started to get a bit more mountain real. Having had a few test runs it was off to Skye to try a mountain. It's also the point where I decided to keep a blog so the phot's from now on will be from actual walks , not stolen ones off the web. 😀

It'll be the one in the middle under the clag then!




























Having passed the correct parking spot on the way in and then again on the way back we chose an ideal 'leg warm' up spot about half a mile from the start. From there on in a pleasant walk by a babbling brook and then a steep ascent up the valley. As it starts to flatten out its then a sharp right (NNW for anyone checking) and up the ridge to the top with a spot or two of easy scrambling.

This is the turn right (NNW) point














Once at the top we were treated to ridge and mountain views around this beautiful island. Dry but a bit overcast views













After looking across at another possible 'top' we decided that death by adventuring wasn't required today and that it was definitely lower and didn't have a trig. back down and a long descent had my knees singing a little.

Distance - 6 mile
Ascent - 990m
Time - 4 hours and then back for the Waterboys

Munros 1/282



Hill Hike #3 Moel Famau

This hill is likely to appear a lot in this training blog, it's the nearest to home, it has a lot of route options and extensions and the ascent can be anywhere between 400 and 1000m. As it's still early days I'd decided to walk the hill and the ridge only without the steep descent to Moel Arthur.

A Saturday 1 pm meet up with Warren and Ellie meant an easy start to the day - not that it helped. After about 500m I realised I'd left my phone on the car roof so the ashamed trudge back to the car to start all over again. Luckily for me Warren discovered he hadn't locked his car - so we agreed that nothing more would be said about either matter.

The hike back up tot the top after returning along the ridge














Having hiked to the end of the ridge we turned back - it was at this point we both realised that after 4 months off the hills we couldn't keep up our old pace. We called it a draw and had a far more breathless wander back along the ridge over the top and down to the cars. For the record there was no extra food for Ellie.

Distance  - 8 miles
Ascent - 853m
Time - 3hours 40mins

Welsh Hills 1


Hill Hike #2 B&B's from Mungrisdale

Much to Caroline's annoyance it was back over to the easy access fells of the Lakes. A longer route from Mungrisdale via the old Victorian track to Bowcale tarn, we briefly parted company here as I fancied the treck around the tarn and up and over tarn Crags. A slight error of judgement as the path proved slightly less pathy and definitely steeper than me and my knees remembered. No harm done I caught up with Cazza on the top where she proudly displayed the book she'd 'swagged' on the hill.

I headed up the steep section - top left

From here it was on to Bannerdale Crags - then doble back to the haus and round white horse bent. And then the long treck back along the riverside to Mungrisdale and a welcome cider in the local.

Distance - 10 miles
Ascent - 670m
Time - 4 hours

Wainwrights- 2,  3/214
Munros - 0

And the fb update

I could get used to this half-day thing https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t4c/1/16/1f642.png:). Beetled across to the lakes at lunch time in order to continue the rehabilitation of He Of The New Knees and had a very pleasant 14km on the fells, spolit only by Bonner's statement that the Loch Ness Monster is a myth (he threw it in as a curve-ball when we were engaged in our ongoing 'invigorating' debate about whether dinosaurs actually existed or not, or whether - as Bonners insists - the fossil record is just a big joke and that paleontologists ought to get themselves proper jobs. It's an argument that has raged for the last 5 years and is unlikely to run out of fuel any time in the near future. NB: he believes in zombies). Anyway, the only possible response to such an offensive and outrageous statement was to douse him with water from my platypus (he probably doesn't believe in them either because they'll look weird) pack and ban him from ever setting foot in Scotland again.
Nessie not real!!! I mean, whoever heard of such a thing?! It's an absolute scandal. Of COURSE Nessie's real



Hill Hike #1 Blencathra - 868m

I chose Blencathra as it's accessible should urgent assistant be needed when my knees collapse. It's also really annoying for Caroline to have to join me on a hill she's hiked far too often for her liking. I played the poorly card quite hard



It was a bit too wet to be risking a slip on Sharp Edge today so the tourist route around the tarn was taken. A quick visit to the top to see the new Trig point - or rather trig flat as it is these days.

Then a fair old ramble back to Scales via a new route to me behind the back of the pub. Knees performed well - edit thighs hurt like hell for 3 days afterwards.

Distance - 5 mile
Ascent - 800m
Time 3 hours 20 mins

Wainwrights 1/214

Munro's  0/282


Back From the knee operation - new mountain DFS

This is a reference for all hills climbed while training for The Dufourspitz in July 2020



4634m - and a bit of a ridge, oh and a downclimb.

Sunday 28 April 2013


Winter Ascent of Musala Mountain via North and North West Ridges



That one at the back


One minute I'm walking round a well known outdoor shop when a book catches my eye, 6 months later I'm stood outside the Yastrebets ski lift station in Borovets, Bulgaria waiting for the first Gondola to take me and my pal John halfway up a mountain.

The book is Europe’s High Points and for a fairly inexperienced climber like myself it seemed to be an ideal tick list. After a 3.58 am start the previous day, we'd flown into Sofia, driven about an hour south to Borovets, checked into our apartment which is really cheap out of season and then stocked up with food a drink for the following day on the mountain.


Research



More research


We had tried to get information on the routes on Musala, the highest point in Bulgaria, as the book only cites the ‘tourist’ route, and even under snow, that seemed a little tame. Also, the topography screamed for a circular traverse. We got a map from Stamfords, but at 50k scale and with 50m contour intervals, it didn’t give too much away. We posted on UKC and Summitpost for information, but the best we got was a couple of folk who had done the traverse in summer and one person from UKC who said it looked ‘tasty’. That whetted our appetite, and looking at the small pictures on Summitpost, we adjudged it to be around II/III Scottish, or maybe PD+/AD-, but we were sure it would have ways around the difficulties if it was so easy in summer. Oh, a mountaineers optimism eh!?



















After an evening researching the route in Borovets, (‘Yeah, up here along there, do you know it? No? Oh well, another couple of Kamenitzas then’) we find ourselves at the Yastrebets uplift for the first car of the day. By 9.20am we're at the top ski station summit at  2396m, it was already clear that the mountains were going to be deep in snow and with fresh powder in parts. Fortunately an overnight frost made the downward traverse bearable although crossing the iced pistes required crampons. An hour later we arrived at the large Musala refuge, (normally used by pilgrims, as Musala is quite a holy mountain in Bulgaria apparently), closed at this time of year and deep in snow. We had a decision to make, up and down the standard route on the west side of the hill, or try to ascend via the longer North and North East ridge. As the winds were very light and the powder not too deep we headed for the classic 'summer' ridge route.



















Our first target was the obvious coll just below the Ireeek summit, where there is an interesting rock formation called the Sfinksa (Sphinx), and it certainly does look like its Egyptian counterpart. Well it would have been an obvious coll had the cloud not descended halfway up the climb.




We kept to the right of large crags and found our way around a small cornice and onto the ridge. From here an upward ridge walk and a few short scrambles brought us to the summit, navigation was becoming tricky with the larger scale map as the section before (a section only printed in Cyrillic, Noeyek, at 2852m) flattened. Finding the ridge again, we roped up and climbed for an hour to the top of Malka Musala (Little Musala). We'd chosen a 30 m rope and a half rack, which for this section is more than enough as very little protection is required, and we weren't expecting major difficulties further on.

The day after, you can see the route by zooming in on our footsteps


Still in the cloud at the summit of Malka Musala a judicious compass reading was taking to be certain of our downward SSW direction. We were aware that the next ridge section was likely to be more difficult from the photographs we'd seen, but what we had underestimated was the combination of route length and technical climbing in winter conditions. It became clear to us now at about 2pm that summiting and returning to catch the last lift to Borovets at 4.15pm just wasn't an option. Fortunately we'd read that the weather station at the summit is open all year round and offers refuge so that took the pressure off, and allowed us to just concentrate on climbing safely in the fresh powder.

'On BELAY'


The climbing quickly became more difficult, the ridges very narrow and banked with fresh powder, with variable cornices on both sides. My more experienced climbing partner estimating this long ridge as Scottish Grade II/III. In between the sections where we could rope and move together we needed to make about 20 pitches and a 60m rope would certainly have been better. Still for me as a relative novice the short rope communication definitely helped. We chose to stick to the crest wherever possible as the powder snow to the side was deep and on steep ground. We'd already heard a number of distant avalanches rumbling like thunder across the mountains, and these focused the mind!

Anywhere off the summit was a tadge steep


A couple of the pinnacles needed to by bypassed, as the chimneys were filled with snow and assured footwork was required on extremely steep ground. The photograph below shows one such section which we avoided by down climbing an 8m vertical gulley, which was interesting. It was 4 hours of full on up and down climbing along the ridge now, the really interesting part being the uncertainty of a route off.

Plenty of these to negotiate


Approaching the latter section the weather improved significantly, on the one hand we were now getting great views of the mountains; on the other the final upward ridge loomed above us with what looked to be impossibly narrow ridge sections. Another hour of climbing and we came to what was hopefully the last obstacle it was now about 7.30pm and we were being treated to late evening sunshine whilst looking at a long corniced ridge that was going to be difficult to protect. Nothing for it.....I stood aside and let my more experienced climbing partner 'route find'! Once crossed, it was clear we were going to be able to walk off roped together and I was having a major breakout of elation.

After you Sir


We finally arrived at the summit at 8.15pm just as the sun was setting.




















Now all we had to do was find a way into the hut. A full 360 inspection revealed most of it to be inaccessible due to snow, however there was a small tunnel leading to a likely looking window, and after banging on it for a while, a firm shove with the back of a walking axe saw it swing open.


Next morning it's easy to find!



Oh Yes :)


At least I was going to be inside for the night. Once inside though things improved rapidly, and Rosen the onsite resident weatherman turned up and offered us tea and brandy. There was a really toasty bunk room and a drying area in the kitchen. The meteorologists do one week on and one week off, and double up as de facto hut guardians when not taking their readings.


Short  journey to work







Good man


mmmhh Soup















An hour later, after warnings from Rosen that ‘I have not seen any British in 15 years here, and any Germans that come here will never eat our soup’ we were tucking into the local delicacy, tripe soup (I've learnt now that it's best not to ask and just eat) and sharing whisky. You have to have a slug of the local whisky (Rakia) before eating the soup...funny that, eh!? My friend gave him some our Glenlivet, much to his delight. After an hour or so exhaustion took over and we collapsed on our mattresses, its strange how difficult sleeping is at altitude, I think it was about 2am before I finally passed out.
















Next morning we were greeted by blue skies and perfect views all around, time for a few photographs 















and a 4 hour walk down the 'tourist' route to Borovets, as it turned out the cableway doesn’t work on a Monday. The first section is anything but touristy and a slip here wouldn't be a good idea. It is protected by cables fixed to posts, a remnant of an old electricity supply I suspect. The one good thing about long but gradual routes off is they do tend to be easier on ageing knees. The clear day also gave us the opportunity to see our footsteps and plot our route accurately from the previous day.



It was almost 11hours walking and climbing to the summit from the top of the ski lift, we could have moved fast with a longer rope and maybe taken an hour or so less, but really, why would you want to rush a ridge like that? It was very Alpine in character, and it is very surprising that we struggled to find any information on it. Was it the first British winter traverse!?

Everest hut - buried in snow


Looking back up the valley



We timed the trip to perfection, as Borovets closed down that weekend. If you want a bit more life, then go earlier in the season, but you will have to ignore the ski paraphernalia on your approach, but then John, tells me it’s the same at the Briethorn for example. We had a real ‘out-there’ climb, as we knew mountain rescue was pretty limited, Bulgaria is really ‘foreign’ as it were, and there was no-one else on the mountain, so we knew we had to be self-reliant. We did under-estimate it in terms of gear, but used what we had to great effect, moving slowly but safely and only leaving one bit of tat on the abseil.
A great weekend, with some great memories

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Fairfield in the snow



This was probably the best last minute call we've made all year. The BBC weather horoscope had turned from 100% sunshine to 100% fog which clearly means possible inversion in my mind. With the roads being at best dicey we opted for Ambleside rather than any local roads. As we approached Windermere, we could see a vale of fog below and a bright pink sky above, even I was happy to be out of bed so early. We pulled into the first parking space possible to take some pictures.

With ducks



and without ducks




Same spot but looking at the cold side





My car is bloody useless in the snow and after last years experience I've taken the continental approach by having winter and summer tyres, and thank goodness I did, we only just made it off the icy car park and round to the main car park. I'd arranged to meet local pals Dolly and mini Dolly at 8.30am in the main car park and with half an hour faffing time (my issue) we left promptly at 9am. Great news too,the parking meters were out of order, it was always going to be a great day £7 saved. From here we took the higher path from the church to Sweden Bridge.

and here it is





It was about minus 6C and the cold had got to Mini's fingers, still an 'encouraging' word from mum sorted that and we were soon climbing towards the ridge.




From here the snow quickly deepened and despite mum saying 'oh its ok', events were proving otherwise. I love Jordan's disparaging look in this picture.





We stuck together for another half hour but if you are 5ft nothing it has to be difficult in deep snow. Glyno still soldiered on though ;D . Meanwhile Dolly set a new goal of Dove crag for mum and daughter. The views all the way up there were gorgeous.





and another - with sunspots




and another





That's Coniston Water under a layer of cloud too



And one from Glyn




It was pretty tough going all the way to the 873m peak, but every step was a pleasure. Once at the summit we just wanted to stay and take photo after photo.




Like the new hat? oh yeah that's Helvellyn in a cloud hat too





And Glyn with a cloud speech bubble next to his head (feel free to insert comment) 'I don't do Brucies'




It was busy and colourful up there




Despite a lack of wind it was still pretty cool on the fingers, so we decided to head lower to eat, passing skiers, snowboarders and runners on the way. All afternoon the views and the clarity of light were (and this ones for Dibs) 'awesome'.

nice valley



Ambleside and a clearing Windermere




We eventually made it off the hills at about 3pm just as golden light started hitting the hillside, it must have been a spectacular sunset. An obligatory wrong turn into Rydal Hall rather than the park path and we were back and in the pub bang on 3.43pm. As Glyno said, 'this is why I never moan about bad weather days'.

And for those missing the countryside

Form a queue ladies